Thursday, June 12, 2008

164. Daddy - Leslie







  • FADE IN:

  • INT. STUDY - EVENING

  • MATT sits at his desk, his head buried in his hands as soft blue light from his laptop washes over his hair.

  • He pounds his head against the desk slowly.

  • MAYA, a tiny woman several inches tall peeks out from behind the computer.

  • She walks gingerly forward, her skirt brushing the desktop, tiny piercings flashing in the blue light.

  • When she reaches Matt, she grabs his sleeve, tugging on it.

  • He pulls his face from his hands and looks around.

  • MAYA
  • Here, right here.

  • Matt looks down.

  • He pushes his chair back with a start.

  • He stares.

  • MAYA
  • What's wrong?

  • MATT
  • Who are you?

  • MAYA
  • I'm Maya.

  • MATT
  • Maya?

  • MAYA
  • Maya, from your script...you know, you wrote it 3 weeks, five days ago? You threw me out of a window?

  • MATT
  • Whaaa?

  • MAYA
  • You created me.

  • MATT
  • I, uh, well...then you're the problem.

  • MAYA
  • What do you mean?

  • Before Matt can answer, a movement catches his eye.

  • ADRIANA, EMILY, and ARIA peer out from behind the computer screen.

  • MATT
  • Wait, how many of you are there?

  • MAYA
  • We're all here.

  • MATT
  • All?

  • Maya whistles softly, commandingly.

  • MAYA
  • All.

  • The desk drawers slowly open and Matt looks down.

  • They are full of tiny people staring back at him.

  • He slams the drawers shut.

  • MATT
  • You're the problem. All of you.

  • The three other small women peer nervously at Matt.

  • MAYA
  • Hey!

  • MATT
  • Well you are, you're all little clones of each other.

  • MAYA
  • We're not anything like each other. We don't even look alike.

  • MATT
  • It doesn't matter what you look like, you're all tea-sipping, tattooed, pierced, a bit bourgsie...and you may seem deep, but there's not much substance really. There's also a good chance you're female and a barista at cool hippy cafe.

  • MAYA
  • Hey! Wow...that's not fair; and well, if it is true, isn't that a reflection on you not us? You created us.

  • She begins to walk away.

  • MATT
  • I just can't stop making you. I keep wanting to make you, and I may change a detail here or there, but I keep creating you. And you never grow.

  • He points to the other three women on the desk.

  • MATT
  • There, Adriana, you must be Adriana. You're madly in love with a boy who'll never see you. Emily, you're an amazing mandolin player on the run from your abusive husband. Aria, you're an angel stuck in a strange parallel universe, damned to preach to those without ears to hear your warning. So the details are different; but you're still the same person. Strong but scarred women who happen to share my interests. I keep writing me. You're all addled little me's. No character growth, no arc, just the same over and over and over. A me I can fall in love with. Isn't that a little sick?

  • MAYA
  • Addled? Addled children of an addled father, Daddy.

  • MATT
  • Don't call me that.

  • MAYA
  • What should I call you?

  • Matt scowls.

  • MAYA
  • Look.

  • She holds up her arm, it is semi-transparent.

  • MAYA
  • I'm not done yet. You have to finish me; you have to finish us.

  • Matt just shakes his head and reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter.

  • MATT
  • Starting over.

  • Maya stares as he opens the drawer.

  • His creations stare up at him.

  • He flicks on the lighter and lowers it into the drawer as they scatter.

  • He pulls the flame across the crowd of small people and they begin to burn.

  • He grabs the Adriana, Emily, and Aria and tossing them screaming into the drawer.

  • The desk begins to burn.

  • He feels something on his back and brushes his shirt, distracted, then turns to Maya.

  • She stands watching him.

  • They stare at each other.

  • He nods then flicks the lighter one more time and sets her on fire.

  • She closes her eyes and crumples to her knees.

  • Matt slaps at his back again, feeling something, then his hands touch flame and he jerks it away.

  • His back is awash in flame.

  • It wraps around his knees and begins to crawl up towards his chest and face.

  • He drops to the ground rolling and kicking, but now he, the desk, and Maya are completely engulfed.

  • He screams and slaps at the fire.

  • MATT
  • Why?

  • Maya looks at him from her melting face.

  • MAYA
  • Daddy.

  • He collapses.

  • Flame wraps races along the carpet now and begins climbing the walls, making the room an inferno.

  • FADE TO BLACK.


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